NFS
NFS stands for Network File System. It is the protocol used to mount directories and files from one computer to another so that they appear to be on the target.
Basics
All department machines mount /u from an OIT server which has redundant drive systems and is backed up to protect against catastrophic failure (as well as having snapshots). Many machines have local disk, either excess left over after the install of the OS, or extra disks installed, which are usable as scratch space. These scratch disks are setup as automounts, so that accessing the /scr1 disk of Coma from any other machine is as simple as typing 'cd /scr/coma1' and it will be mounted for you.
Scratch disks
Though scratch disks are automounted, you will find that you can access them faster if your I/O is happening on whatever machine actually holds the disk. So instead of writing over NFS, you write your data locally. Not only does this free up network resources, it can keep both your machine, and the one holding the scratch disk, from getting saturated and too slow to use.
FAQ
Can't I mount <something> somewhere else?
There are several reasons you can't NFS mount your Peyton home directory (/u/username) or scratch disks to your laptop, home PC or one in the dorms:
- Since we cannot verify if you have all the latest security patches and precautions installed on your home PC we cannot allow a possibly insecure machine to mount a secure resource.
- The data between your PC and our network will not be encrypted which means anyone can eavesdrop on any of your NFS chatting.
- OIT does not allow mounting between subnets unless it is to specific machines. They will not consider 100 separate request for Dormnet connectivity to other secure networks. In fact I would be surprised if they allowed it at all since they consider Dormnet inherently insecure. Other home based PCs could be even worse.
